Comets make most of tripSquad tops Monarchs to finish campaign with .500 record

Published 5:00 am, Monday, September 15, 2008

Tina Thompson helped the Comets close out the season on a good note as she scored 31 points in a victory over Sacramento.

Tina Thompson helped the Comets close out the season on a good note as she scored 31 points in a victory over Sacramento.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Houston Chronicle

Comets end year with win over Monarchs in San Marcos

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SAN MARCOS —The last six weeks haven’t been the greatest for the Comets. The team went up for sale during their month-long Olympic break, then on a five-game losing streak when they returned.On Monday, the Comets’ season ended at Strahan Coliseum on the campus of Texas State University, where the team was sent after Hurricane Ike tore through the Houston area.

Despite all of that, the Comets defeated the Sacramento Monarchs 90-81 in the regular-season finale after beating Chicago on Sunday.

The Comets (17-17) and Monarchs were supposed to be at Reliant Arena on Friday. Instead, the WNBA postponed the game and the Comets fled the city on Friday morning, just before airports closed and went straight to Chicago to play the Sky on Sunday.

While the Comets didn’t endure a hurricane in Chicago, they did deal with over 12 inches of rain over the weekend, a record amount for the city.

“It hasn’t been an easy few days, but we could be way worse off like the people in Galveston who lost their homes,” said guard/forward Roneeka Hodges, who chipped in 14 points against the Monarchs. “We just have to go out there and do our jobs and play.”

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The mood in the locker room prior to Monday’s game was grim. Most of the players and staff hadn’t heard about their homes, and like the rest of the country, had only seen photos and footage on the national news. They didn’t have a clue when they would return.

“We don’t really know what is happening at home and we don’t know when we will be back to see it,” Hodges said. “We have seen the reports on the Internet and on TV, but we don’t know what to expect really — we don’t know about where we live or anything like that.”

In addition, the outcomes of both games didn’t matter at all. The playoffs have been set for a week, and the Comets are out for the second straight season and third time in four years. Still, Comets coach Karleen Thompson was impressed with her team.

“Even though we can’t make the playoffs, this team has had exceptional focus these last two games,” said Thompson, whose squad was led by Tina Thompson with 31 points.

“It is unfortunate that we can’t finish this season at home, in front of our fans in Houston,” Karleen Thompson said. “But we are thinking about our friends and fans there and look forward to getting back.”